January 11, 2011

Cal: UK told to drag out Kanter case with appeals

More than once Monday, Kentucky Coach John Calipari noted how long it took the NCAA to rule freshman Enes Kanter permanently ineligible.

But didn’t UK drag out the case by appealing decisions? More than once, the school sought appeals of earlier decisions that Kanter could never play college basketball.

“We were told to appeal,” Calipari said. “Why would we do anything (to drag it out). (Just) say it!.”

Well, not exactly, UK spokesman DeWayne Peevy said.

“The NCAA never told us to appeal,” Peevy said before adding, “They never said it was, like, a moot point.”

UK seized on that opening, Peevy said. Any opening would have sufficed.

“You don’t want to feel you’ve not done everything,” Peevy said.

Peevy said that the first appeal was a joint decision of all parties: presumably UK, the basketball program and the Kanter family.

A favorable result in such cases is typically made by an appeals panel, Peevy said.

The second appeal, which was believed to be based on a NCAA decision allowing Auburn quarterback Cam Newton to continue playing despite his father admitting trying to sell his son’s services, was a decision made by Kanter’s family, Peevy said.

Neither Calipari nor Peevy said the option to seek a court injunction blocking the NCAA ruling was dead. Neither embraced the option.

“(Kanter) hasn’t brought that up at all,” Peevy said. “I’ve not talked to him about it. He probably doesn’t know what that means.”